


Play-Acting

by yalltookmyusernameideas



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Fear, Fighting, Gen, Misunderstandings, Platonic Prinxiety - Freeform, Roman has a sword, Threats, Unhappy Ending, Virgil is a jerk, roman is a jerk, the & is for friendships, they're jerks at first and then get better
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:26:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22074721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yalltookmyusernameideas/pseuds/yalltookmyusernameideas
Summary: Roman plays up his role for the videos.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders
Comments: 20
Kudos: 79





	1. Chapter 1

Anxiety spent more time in the imagination than he’d willingly admit. All the sides could access it, Roman and Remus just did more often and had domain over it. But Anxiety, he just liked to go for walks. Having control over an entire imaginary realm seemed exhausting!

It was on one of these walks that he was discovered by one prince Roman.

“Anxiety!” Roman shouted, voice full of dramatics and flair.

“Get thee gone from my fair kingdom!” He demanded.

Anxiety paled as Roman drew his sword and began to run toward him. The flight instinct took control, and Anxiety bolted toward the forest on the outskirts of the village.

What Anxiety had not counted on was Roman being as fast as he was. Just on the edge of the forest, Roman overtook him, ramming into his back and causing him to face plant into the dirt.

“Agh!” Anxiety cried out in pain and alarm, turning over as quickly as possible, coming face to face with the pointy end of Roman’s sword.

Anxiety’s eyes widened and face paled. He began scooting back, and Roman followed him with ease while Anxiety backed himself up against a tree.

“No no no no no no no…” Anxiety whispered, breath getting short and vision tunneling in on the sharp point.

Something was wrong. This was not the snarky “villain” that Roman was so used to play-acting with, trading insults and jabs and one-liners.

“Anxiety?” Roman asked, his edge of confidence gone. When he didn’t get a response, Roman began to grasp the severity of the situation he’d unknowingly put the other side in. He sheathed his sword and crouched down to be eye level with Anxiety.

“Hey? Anxiety?” He called, much gentler this time.

Anxiety startled, jolting out of whatever trance he’s been in and trying to scramble back from Roman again. He was cruelly reminded of the large tree blocking his path.

Anxiety brought his arms up to shield his face and torso.

“Don’t hurt me…!” Anxiety nearly begged.

Roman’s eyes widened. He was speechless for a moment. When he finally did speak, he winced at how insensitive (and, quite frankly, stupid) his words sounded.

“This is all real to you isn’t it?”

Anxiety winced. “…yes? Why… why wouldn’t it be?” He asked carefully.

Roman was shocked. He thought they, the sides, had an unspoken agreement that everything was played up for the videos. He was overly dramatic, Patton was overly excited, Logan was overly logical, and Anxiety was overly negative. To learn that Anxiety thought how they all acted toward him was all genuine and accurate… well, it made Roman feel like an ass.

“No… no, no no… Anxiety, we… it’s _acting_.” Roman was grasping for words, desperately trying to explain.

Roman reached out, gently prying Anxiety’s arms away from their protective position so Roman could see his eyes.

“Anxiety… it’s acting. It’s all play-acting. We… we might not get along, but goodness, we don’t… I can’t believe we… we don’t hate you! Not like that!” Roman explained desperately.

Anxiety let a little more of his guard down. He was still skeptical, Roman could tell. Honestly, he couldn’t blame him. Looking back, had he not known he was acting, he would’ve thought he truly hated Anxiety too. Roman looked down in shame.

“It… I… we thought you knew…”

Anxiety let out a relieved, hysterical laugh.

“Acting. Of course! Really, what _isn’t_ acting with you! Wow, I should’ve known! Sorry I’m so dense, _Princey_. Sorry no one clued me in to your little game!”

“Anxiety, we didn't-!”

“No no. It’s fine. I shouldn’t expect you all to include me in your little games anyway. After all, I was the one who intruded, wasn’t I? I invaded your little videos under the impression they were serious! It’s no wonder you all seem to hate me! There’s no way I knew they weren’t serious! HA!”

Anxiety devolved into hysteric laughter. Roman found it terrifying, anything but funny.

“I should’ve known… I should’ve _known_!”

Anxiety looked up at Roman, angry tears trailing down his face.

“I should’ve _fucking_ _known_ , right Princey?! Stupid little Anxiety getting in the way of your games, I should’ve _known_!”

Anxiety got up, pushing Roman away, confident in the knowledge that Roman wouldn’t actually hurt him.

“Anxiety, wait! This is just a really big, really shitty misunderstanding! Please!” Roman begged.

Anxiety shook his head. “No! Why should I? What, is there _another_ game I’m not in on? Another show I’m an unwitting _actor_ in?”

Roman tried to speak. He really did! But his words just wouldn’t work right. They jumbled in his mind and came out as garbled grunts and half-started sentences that he aborted before he even knew he started.

“Thought so.” Anxiety mumbled, his range dulled to a halfhearted glare. He turned on his heels and headed away from Roman, to the exit of the imagination.

“See ya at our next little show, huh Princey?”


	2. Set the Stage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sides make another tense video, Roman tells Logan and Patton about his interactions with Anxiety.

The next video felt… off. Tense. Anxiety’s insults stung more than normal and the queasiness in Roman’s stomach refused to settle. Everything was heightened, more, just far too much. 

Logan and Patton… didn’t do anything. They didn’t see anything wrong. Because to them it was still acting. It was still a game. They didn’t realize how far along they’d led Anxiety. They didn’t realize that there was so much hurt stored in that one side. 

So when Roman snapped and yelled, deviating from the script and refusing to get back on track, face red with anger and other unmentionable emotions, Anxiety sunk out. 

And oh, that hurt more than Roman wanted to admit. Because Roman wasn’t mad at him! Roman was mad at everyone _except_ him. Roman was mad at Logan and Thomas and Patton ~~and himself~~. He was mad that they’d let it go so far that he, the prince, couldn’t figure out how to save the damsel in distress. He didn’t know how to reach Anxiety, how to show him how _sorry_ they all were, how sorry they all would be once they knew what they’d been doing, how much he’d been hurting. 

When they all sunk out, Roman bolted toward the stairs. 

“Woah, Roman!” Patton called, reaching out and grabbing the cuff of his prince outfit. 

Roman shook his head. “No, no, you don’t understand! I need to go talk to him, I have to, I have to-!” 

Logan stepped in front of Roman, blocking his path. 

“What I think you need to do is calm down and explain yourself.” 

That’s when Roman broke, when the dam holding back his tears collapsed, when all his emotions rushed to the forefront and overtook him, conquering his castle, conquering him. 

“But I have to, I have to, to, to-!” 

Roman’s protests dissolved to unintelligible sobs as his knees buckled. Logan was quick to catch him and guide him over to the couch. 

One they were sitting Roman began to calm down. Patton ran a comforting hand up and down Roman’s back while Logan grasped his hands firmly, grounding him. 

Roman took a shaky breath. 

“He thinks it’s real.” 

The admission was so quiet they weren’t sure they’d heard him; weren’t sure he’d spoken. 

“Could you repeat that?” Logan asked, exchanging a worried glance with Patton. 

“Anxiety, he, he, he thinks it’s real, he thinks we hate him, he didn’t know, he didn’t know it’s acting, it’s a game, it’s played up for the videos. He didn’t know. He thinks we hate him.” 

Logan and Patton sat in stunned silence, struggling to compose a response. How… how do they react to that? How did Roman know? How do they… how do they fix it? 

Before they could speak, Roman took a deep breath and continued his explanation. 

“I found him in the imagination, just walking, and I thought it’d be fun, right? To just play out the hero and villain roles we’d adopted in the videos. But then he was crying and begging me not to hurt him, and my sword felt too heavy and looked too sharp, and everything suddenly felt like it’d been twisted sideways, and I was the villain and he was just… just another person, and then I knew, there was no way he’s acting. There’s just no way.” 

Patton had started to sob silently. Logan’s eyes had gone dark as he gazed into his lap, shame evident on his features. 

“I tried to apologize to him… I tried to explain…” Roman continued in a whisper, “and he got angry. He has every right to. And now I’m sure he hates us, or me at least. He hates me.” 

They sat in silence for what felt like hours, occasionally broken by Patton’s sniffles, Roman’s sigh, or Logan clearing his throat. 

Finally, Logan spoke up. 

“I think, after the events of today, we need to give him the night to himself. He needs time to calm down after that verbal barrage between the two of you.” 

Roman turned toward Logan, eyes wide and face contorted, ready to protest, ready to argue and shout _no no no_! But Logan held up a hand and Roman stopped in his tracks. 

“First thing tomorrow, one of us needs to talk to him, bring him down to breakfast, and hopefully work things out among the three of us.” 

“I want to do it.” Roman responded immediately. 

Logan gave him a puzzled look but didn’t object. 

“First thing tomorrow, then.” Logan agreed. 

Then, another stretch of silence. 

“We ought to go to bed soon… it’s really quite late.” Roman mumbled. 

Patton nodded and Logan made a noise of agreement. Neither of them made any movements to get up. Instead, Logan grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch, the one barely big enough for all three of them and spread it across their laps. 

“We can do that here.” 

Patton huddled closer to Roman, and Logan did his best to discreetly scoot closer to the two. 

“Good night Padre. Night Specs.” 

“Good night, Roman.” 

“‘Night, Ro…” 

And they fell asleep, all sides waiting with bated breath for what would befall them come morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, your feedback is appreciated!


	3. Casting Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman invites Anxiety to breakfast

Anxiety awoke to a soft knocking on his door. Immediately, he was awake and he was  _ afraid _ . No one ever knocked on his door. No one ever wanted to talk to him. No one ever sought him out. Not unless he was in trouble. 

Anxiety quickly snapped into his hoodie and caked on his eyeshadow. He’s surprised that whoever has been at his door for about three minutes now hasn’t grown impatient. He takes a moment to calm himself, to take deep breaths and let his posture slouch. He schools his expression into an uninterested sneer and sighs. He’s not  _ quite _ in the right headspace to be their villain, but this will have to do. 

Anxiety reaches out and grabs the doorknob, giving himself just a few more seconds to prepare for the undoubtedly angry barrage, likely from Logan or Roman that awaits him on the other side of the door. 

When he’s met with red on white, Anxiety is expecting just that. Angry yelling, possibly some unfounded accusations. He  _ wasn't  _ expecting a soft voice and an offer to attend breakfast. 

“What?” Anxiety asks, gobsmacked. 

Roman offers a small, heartbroken smile. Of course Anxiety is shocked, of course he doesn’t know what to do. He never knew he could come down to breakfast. Sure, it might’ve been awkward, but they wouldn’t have turned him away. 

“I asked how you slept, and if you could join us for breakfast.” 

“Why?” Anxiety blurted before he could stop himself. 

Roman deflated. “We have some things we want to talk to you about.”

When Anxiety’s eyes widened and he took a cautionary step back, Roman held up his hands in a placating gesture. 

“It’s nothing bad, and you’re not in any sort of trouble! I promise on my honor.” 

Anxiety retorts before he can stop himself, “You can’t promise on something you never had.”

Anxiety immediately covers his mouth in embarrassment and shock upon realizing he said that out loud. 

Roman makes a mock-offended noise, not bothering to hide his smile. “You’re wrong, but it’s whatever, I guess.” Roman replied. He turned to head back downstairs and Anxiety breathed a sigh of relief. 

Roman looked back over his shoulder. “You coming?” 

Anxiety’s breath caught in his throat. “You- you were serious?” 

Roman’s smile suddenly fell away. He made his way back over to Anxiety, then paused, hesitating. 

“I… Anxiety, can I hug you?” 

Anxiety’s eyes widened. It was a good few minutes before he responded. Roman didn’t get annoyed with him, didn’t prompt him again. He waited patiently for Anxiety to answer him. 

“You better not be messing with me.” Anxiety finally replied. 

Roman perked up a little bit. “Sooo, is that a yes?” He gave Anxiety a hopeful smile. 

Anxiety bit his lip and hummed in thought, clearly, well, anxious. “Yeah, fine, just as long as the others don’t find out.” 

Roman beamed and approached Anxiety, pulling him close. Anxiety curled into the cocoon of Roman’s arms and sighed, allowing himself to relax and be vulnerable, if only for a moment. 

“...What do you guys wanna talk to me about?” Anxiety asked, still wrapped in Roman’s arms. 

Roman sighed and rested his chin on the shorter side’s head. 

“We have… we have some apologizing to do, and we want to learn how to include you, and we want to make sure we can communicate with you clearly. We don’t… We don’t want to leave you out of the loop. We don’t want you to think you have to be all alone anymore.” 

Anxiety barely dared to breathe. Roman was telling him everything he’d ever wanted to hear. The other sides, they wanted to work  _ with _ him, not against him. Anxiety pinched himself; there was no way this wasn't a dream. 

When he flinched at his own pinch, Anxiety took in a deep breath. 

“You’re sure?” He asked, sounding like he really did want to believe it but couldn’t quite bring himself to, not yet. 

Roman nodded. “We’re sure. What do you say we head down to breakfast and talk this through with Logan and Patton?”

Anxiety stood motionless for a moment before nodding. 

“I… yeah, we should do that. Yeah, let’s go.” He looked up at Roman but couldn’t quite meet his eyes. 

Roman offered a smile, one like Anxiety had never seen before. It wasn't bright and sunny, wasn't forced, wasn’t excited or giddy. It was soft, and welcoming, and understanding, and for  _ him _ . 

Roman slung an arm around Anxiety’s shoulders. Anxiety tensed at first, then relaxed when he realized that this was a  _ friendly _ gesture, Roman was trying to be his  _ friend _ . What a wild thought. 

“Yes,” Roman replied, tone gentle and touch light, “let’s.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, you feedback is appreciated!


End file.
